The what-might-have-been had Ismail Abdul Rahman lived longer

Speculation on the what-might-have-been is a sterile exercise. But when the present is hugely dispiriting, it may be excusable to think of the what-might-have-been if only to encourage the despondent “to strive, to seek, to find – and not to yield,” as Alfred Lord Tennyson urged in his poem ‘Ulysses’.

Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman was at first the home minister and later deputy prime minister whose untimely death on Aug 2, 1973, deprived the country of his ability to strengthen the best purposes and suppress the worst instincts of a motley democracy.

In the former instance, he advised a beleaguered Tunku Abdul Rahman, the prime minister during the May 13 racial riots against handing over the reins of power to the military who have asked for it in order to restore calm.

“Forget about getting it back,” was the admonition to the Tunku from the doctor who had returned to medical practice in 1967 after quitting his home minister’s post.

Ismail (above) was recalled to the same post in the immediate aftermath of the 1969 race riots to help the country get back to normalcy after the shock of the disturbances.

An example of his capability at repressing the worst instincts of the polity was his boldness in warning Umno Youth in 1972 against becoming a “party within a party.”

Umno Youth, awash with the assertive instincts of Malay nationalism flowing in its veins from the introduction of the New Economic Policy in 1971, was becoming a pressure group pushing for the Malay-isation of business and administration in the country.

Ismail showed his capacity for balance and rationality by reminding the forces of Malay assertiveness that Malaysia was a “multi-racial country”, not a popular stance to take at a time when Malay nationalism was nigh.

A couple of weeks before Ismail died, the deputy prime minister delivered an extraordinary speech at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang where he received an honorary doctorate.

In his address, Ismail acknowledged the contributions of the Left forces in pre-Independence Malaya to freeing the country from colonial rule.

Prior to that admission, only Umno and its partners MCA and MIC were acknowledged as having been the prime movers of the Independence struggle.

According to Tawfik, the eldest son of Ismail and keeper of his father’s memory, no records exist of that exceptional speech, which is strange for an address of historical significance.

Perhaps that was because its real writer was the journalist A Samad Ismail, then managing editor of the New Straits Times, whose sideline was writing speeches for Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussain and his deputy, Ismail.

Samad would be detained under the notorious Internal Security Act in June 1976 as a communist agent, a move that had more to do with an internal power play within Umno.

After Samad’s detention, the need to erase records of his subterranean influence on pivotal figures may have been felt to be necessary.

Ismail is not an easy man to influence, in respect of conceding ground to the Malay and non-Malay left wing that had played a big part in the nationalist movement after the Second World War.

But he was a fair man and Samad is speculated to have been the person who pointed out the facts about the important part played by the left-wing movement immediately after the Japanese Occupation to free Malaya from British rule.

By his open-mindedness to the political and social realities of a nascent country, his commitment to democracy, his detachment from personal interest, and his devotion to national purpose, Ismail was a rare presence in the two decades after Malayan independence and the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The relative brevity of his life - he died at the age of 57 - was most unfortunate for the country, one not terribly well-endowed with leadership talent.

The speculation as to the what-might-have-been is inevitable given what presently obtains, a national malaise in which all that Ismail Abdul Rahman was notable for is struggling to survive. - Mkini

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The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor, Terence Netto and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.